The line was worked by independent contractors until long after other lines, which had taken operations in house upon the introduction of locomotives. The line was initially under-capitalised because many of the subscribers did not meet their dues, and it was mainly funded by the Butterley Company, a major supplier and its main creditor. The final cost was £180,000, more than Jessop's estimate of £155,000, but still much cheaper than a canal. Nevertheless, the line never achieved a profit. Francis Wright, the Chairman, was later to say, in 1862 "We found ourselves getting into difficulties from the third year of our existence," and added it was clear in retrospect that the line "never had a remote chance of paying a dividend on the original shares."[9]
The railway's first steam locomotive arrived in 1841 in the shape ofPeak, built byRobert Stephenson and Company. By 1860 the line had six more locomotives gradually displacing the horses. Because the inclines were too steep for adhesion traction by these early locomotives, they were hauled up and down the inclines, along with their trains, by static steam engines. Hemp rope or chain, initially used for hauling trains, was later replaced by steel cables.
showCromford and High Peak Railway Act 1855
TheCromford and High Peak Railway Act 1855(18 & 19 Vict.c. lxxv) authorised the carriage of passengers. However the one train per day each way did little to produce extra revenue and, when a passenger was killed in 1877, the service was discontinued. The line's prosperity depended on that of the canals it connected but, by the 1830s, they were in decline. This was, to a degree, offset by the increase in the trade for limestone from the quarries.
There were, in fact, very few accidents. In 1857, the Cromford and Sheep Pasture inclines had been merged into one, and in 1888, a brake van parted from the train near the summit. Gathering speed, it was unable to round the curve into Cromford Wharf. It passed over both the canal and the double track railway line, and landed in a field. A catch pit was therefore installed near the bottom. This can still be seen from theA6[10]with a (more recent) wrecked wagon still in it.
The most serious accident occurred in 1937. The line was fairly level on the approach to the Hopton Incline and it was the custom to gain speed for the uphill gradient. There was a shallow curve immediately before and on this occasion the locomotive spread the track, rolled over and down the embankment with four wagons. The driver was killed and thereafter a speed limit of 40mph was strictly enforced.
DuringWorld War II, the line was used to transport bombs to the huge underground munitions store atRAF Harpur Hill. The railway line ran directly through the site.[11]
Demise[edit]
Traffic – by now almost exclusively from local quarries – was slowly decreasing during theBeeching era, the first section of the line being closed in 1963. This was the rope-worked 1 in 8 Middleton Incline. The Middleton Top-Friden section, including the 1 in 8 Sheep Pasture Incline and theHopton Incline, closed on 21 April 1967[12]and Friden to Hindlow closed on 2 October 1967.[13]
Preservation[edit]The High Peak Trail[edit]
Main articles:High Peak TrailandRail trail
A cutting on the High Peak Trail.The summit of the former rope-worked railway incline at Middleton Top, now used as a footpath and cycle way.
In 1971 the Peak Park Planning Board and Derbyshire County Council bought part of the track bed (from Dowlow, near Buxton, to High Peak Junction, Cromford) and turned it into theHigh Peak Trail, now a national route of theNational Cycle Networkand popular withwalkers,cyclistsandhorse riders.
The High Peak Trail and part of the Tissington Trail (see below) are now also designated as part of thePennine Bridleway, a leisure route that starts atMiddleton Top, near Cromford, and includes 73 miles (117km) through Derbyshire to the South Pennines.
The Middleton Incline Engine House has also been preserved, and the ancient engine once used to haul loaded wagons up is often demonstrated.[14]Another attraction along the route is theSteeple Grange Light Railway, a narrow-gauge railway running along the trackbed of a branch line off the C&HPR.
Near Cromford at the top of the town of Wirksworth the railway passed underBlack Rocks, a populargritstoneclimbing ground, and gave the name to the 'railway slab', a short tricky'boulder problem'by the railway track.
The Tissington Trail[edit]
Main articles:Tissington TrailandRail trail
At the hamlet of Parsley Hay, about 5 miles (8km) SW of Bakewell, the C&HPR/High Peak Trail is joined by theTissington Trail, another route of the National Cycle Network, and formerly the railway line from Buxton to Ashbourne. This 13-mile (21km) recreational route runs from Parsley Hay to Ashbourne on a gently descending gradient.
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